Jazzschool a straight-ahead success in Berkeley

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, October 10, 2010

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

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Tony Marino of the Dave Liebman Group plays for students at The Jazz School on Monday, September 27, 2010. The Dave Liebman Group joined in on the lesson and helped teach the Advanced High School Jazz Workshop directed by Michael Zilber. less

Tony Marino of the Dave Liebman Group plays for students at The Jazz School on Monday, September 27, 2010. The Dave Liebman Group joined in on the lesson and helped teach the Advanced High School Jazz Workshop ... more

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

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Jazz trombone student Tyler Johnston works in one of the schools practice rooms Tuesday, September 21, 2010. The Jazz School in Berkeley, Calif., was formed nine years ago and offers classes to budding jazz performers of all ages. less

Jazz trombone student Tyler Johnston works in one of the schools practice rooms Tuesday, September 21, 2010. The Jazz School in Berkeley, Calif., was formed nine years ago and offers classes to budding jazz ... more

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

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Dave Liebman, leader of the Dave Liebman Group joined in on the lesson at the Jazz School on Monday, September 27, 2010. Liebman and his group helped teach the Advanced High School Jazz Workshop directed by Michael Zilber. less

Dave Liebman, leader of the Dave Liebman Group joined in on the lesson at the Jazz School on Monday, September 27, 2010. Liebman and his group helped teach the Advanced High School Jazz Workshop directed by ... more

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

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Jazz student Mike Sweetland works on his bass in a practice room at the school Tuesday, September 21, 2010. The Jazz School in Berkeley, Calif., was formed nine years ago and offers classes to budding jazz performers of all ages. less

Jazz student Mike Sweetland works on his bass in a practice room at the school Tuesday, September 21, 2010. The Jazz School in Berkeley, Calif., was formed nine years ago and offers classes to budding jazz ... more

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

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Famed jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd talks with students from the Jazz School Tuesday, September 21, 2010. The Jazz School in Berkeley, Calif., was formed nine years ago and offers classes to budding jazz performers of all ages. less

Famed jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd talks with students from the Jazz School Tuesday, September 21, 2010. The Jazz School in Berkeley, Calif., was formed nine years ago and offers classes to budding jazz ... more

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

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Jazz School Institute president Susan Muscarella sits near a wall that includes notes with the names of benefactors to the school Tuesday, September 21, 2010. The Jazz School in Berkeley, Calif., was formed nine years ago and offers classes to budding jazz performers of all ages. less

Jazz School Institute president Susan Muscarella sits near a wall that includes notes with the names of benefactors to the school Tuesday, September 21, 2010. The Jazz School in Berkeley, Calif., was formed ... more

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

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Instructor John Gove writes notes on a classroom board for a class on ear training and sight singing Tuesday, September 21, 2010. The Jazz School in Berkeley, Calif., was formed nine years ago and offers classes to budding jazz performers of all ages. less

Instructor John Gove writes notes on a classroom board for a class on ear training and sight singing Tuesday, September 21, 2010. The Jazz School in Berkeley, Calif., was formed nine years ago and offers ... more

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

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Jazz students Travis Light (left), Charles Charnas, and Tyler Johnston (right) use a practice room Tuesday, September 21, 2010. The Jazz School in Berkeley, Calif., was formed nine years ago and offers classes to budding jazz performers of all ages. less

Jazz students Travis Light (left), Charles Charnas, and Tyler Johnston (right) use a practice room Tuesday, September 21, 2010. The Jazz School in Berkeley, Calif., was formed nine years ago and offers classes ... more

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

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Jazzschool a straight-ahead success in Berkeley

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If you didn't know it was there by the sounds of an aching tenor sax or a sizzling trumpet wafting up from below street level, it would be easy to just walk on by the Jazzschool on your way to, say, Berkeley Rep or Freight & Salvage on Berkeley's arts-dominated Addison Street.

But those who descend a short flight of stairs to the school's basement digs in the former Kress "dime store" find a warren of soundproofed classrooms, students of all ages and a jazz education program that has put the Jazzschool on the map as one of the most vital centers of jazz education in the West.

The fact that the 13-year-old school is clearly outgrowing its current digs is just one testament to its success as a training ground for young musicians. Since its 1997 launch by pianist and educator Susan Muscarella, the Jazzschool has become a place where would-be pros can obtain a bachelor's degree in jazz studies, where jazz buffs of any age can get their bebop on through the Community Music School, where you might hear the next Coltrane or Gillespie on a Sunday afternoon for the price of a latte, and where seasoned pros can polish their technique. Factor in the food at the tiny jewel-box Jazzcaffè, the extraordinary collection of CDs and sheet music on sale at the closet-size books and records store, the jazz photo exhibition by Lee Tanner and the unique energy that ripples through the place from early morning until the last class ends at night and you have an idea of why the Jazzschool counts in the jazz world.

To a man and woman, every faculty member or administrator you talk to will point to Muscarella as the reason the Jazzschool is what it is today.

"Susan, my God, I thank her for this," says Marcos Silva, whose Brazilian music classes are among the most popular and demanding in the school (do not confuse Brazilian and Latin music in his presence). "I saw her a few times play with a big band at the old Yoshi's on Claremont and she was trying to do the school. I love Susan, I love the woman. She deserves every credit. She's worth it. She knows what to do with it. She deserves an even bigger school."

Silva has been teaching at the school since its founding "because it never stops - there's always something new for the music.

For her part, Muscarella at times seems as if she can't quite believe her good fortune, that she has attained so many of her goals.

When she was a music student at UC Berkeley in the '70s, she got involved with the school's jazz program. At that time, getting a post-secondary degree in music meant either classical composition or musicology. Jazz was extracurricular.

"While I was at Berkeley, I became more and more involved in running that (jazz) program and eventually became director," she says over a recent lunch at the Jazzcaffè. "I wanted to do a program of studies and I started designing that. I realized that if I wanted to see that happen, I'd just have to do it myself, which is what I did."

These days, doing it herself means applying for accreditation for the entire school, a task involving a whole lot of paperwork and gathering evidence to prove the value of the school's mission.

"Especially when it comes to jazz education, people are always saying education is so antithetical to jazz," she says. "At the same time, everybody's trying to codify something for jazz that's parallel to classical music" - and that misses the point, she contends.

"Jazz is a lot different than teaching classical," she says. "Maybe counterpoint, for example, has a template that goes back a thousand years. Jazz isn't like that."

Traditions upheld

At the same time, the traditions of the art form are embodied by the faculty, as well as the guest performers from Yoshi's, the venerable Oakland venue that has an ongoing relationship with the Jazzschool.

"A lot of the faculty have been here for many years, and many either are still performers or started out as performers," Muscarella says, crediting Yoshi's and, in particular, Peter Williams for the relationship between the school and the premiere Bay Area jazz club. Students not only get regular exposure to jazz greats such as the saxophonist Charles Lloyd, who spent a couple of hours at the school last month, but a select few also get an occasional chance to play at the club.

Traditionally, except for vocalists, jazz has been a male-dominated art form. As a young jazz pianist, Muscarella was aware of the relative imbalance in instrumental jazz but has seen attitudes change over the years as women like Esperanza Spalding and Carla Bley have come to the fore. Muscarella is pleased to find more and more teenage girls wanting to become jazz instrumentalists and has even set aside a jazz and blues section in the Jazzschool's Summer Camp for girls.

"There are no boys around, so they're completely focused on the music," she says, only half jokingly.

Muscarella (who, by the way, is married to conductor and former California Performances Artistic Director Robert Cole) opened the first Jazzschool at 2375 Shattuck Ave., in Berkeley. The structure may be the oldest free-standing wooden building in the city and a designated landmark, but that didn't necessarily make it an ideal location for a music school: You'd be teaching in one room and hear the music being played in the room next door, Silva recalls.

Was Muscarella scared when she first opened her doors?

"I never had any idea that we'd have anybody walk in the door," she says. "The idea was to build it and hope that they'd come."

That didn't turn out to be a problem.

The school had 138 students per quarter that first year. At its peak, the school has had about 800, but Muscarella is happy enough with the current average of 550 students per quarter. The enrollment of the Jazzschool Institute, where students pursue degrees in music, is around 40 to 50 students, and Muscarella hopes more space will enable her to increase that number to 120.

Outgrowing its space

In 2002, she moved to the current location, which is about 3 1/2 times larger than the Shattuck site, or 2,500 square feet. That said, even keeping the enrollment at its current level, she knows the school is outgrowing its space, and she is looking to expand elsewhere.

The school's annual operating budget is about $1.8 million, of which two-thirds is earned through class fees and other sources, including concert tickets and the school's own CD releases, and one-third comes from donations. Finances are always a challenge, she concedes, but that doesn't detract from the fun she has as a schoolmarm.

"It's sharing something that you're really passionate about with someone, supporting the art form you believe in and think is needed," she says. "It's dessert. It isn't what I envisioned when I was in my 20s. I never thought I'd end up teaching or running a school. I thought I'd be a player like everybody else, but I discovered it's all creative." {sbox}

PROGRAMS:

The Jazzschool

Jazzschool Community Music Program

The Jazzschool Institute

Concerts and special events

Jazzschool Summer Youth Program

Jazzschool Records

of performances at the school

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